SPORTS
Saturday, July 28, 2018
East Oregonian
M’s acquire Tuivailala to bolster bullpen
SEATTLE (AP) — The
Seattle Mariners bolstered
their bullpen on Friday
by acquiring right-handed
reliever Sam Tuivailala from
the St. Louis Cardinals in
exchange for minor-league
pitcher Seth Elledge.
Tuivailala is 3-3 with a
3.69 ERA in 31 appearances
for St. Louis this season, his
second full season in the big
leagues. He’ll immediately
jump into the playoff race
with Seattle holding a one-
game lead over Oakland for
the second wild card in the
American League.
Tuivailala also gives Seat-
tle versatility. He’s worked
more than one inning in
eight of his 31 appearances.
He’s held right-handed bat-
ters to a .230 average and
has not allowed a run in 21
of 31 outings. He also helps
fulfill general manager Jerry
Dipoto’s goal of acquiring
players that will be control-
lable for years to come. Tui-
vailala isn’t arbitration eligi-
ble until 2020.
“Sam is in the midst
of his second consecutive
solid big league season, and
has pitched in parts of four
AP Photo/Jeff Roberson, File
major league seasons but
has barely two years of ser-
vice time,” Dipoto said. “We
view this as a move for our
present and our future.”
Tuivailala will join a
bullpen that’s been worked
extensively in numerous
close ball games. Seattle is
27-13 in one-run games this
season.
Elledge has quickly
risen among the rankings
of minor-league prospects
in the Mariners organiza-
tion. Elledge was recently
rated as the No. 10 prospect
in Seattle’s organization and
was 5-1 with a 1.17 ERA
and nine saves in 31 games
for Single-A Modesto.
MARINERS: Cruz hits 23rd HR, has only 2 in July
Continued from 1B
double with the bases loaded
in the second inning to give
the Angels their first runs
of the game. David Fletcher
brought another home in the
second on a sacrifice fly.
Mike Zunino hit a fifth-in-
ning home run for the Mari-
ners, his 13th and first since
June 29. He spent time on the
disabled list over that stretch
with a left ankle bone bruise.
Cruz added a solo shot in
the seventh, his 23rd. Cruz
has just two homers in July.
The Mariners tied the
game in the eighth inning on
Guillermo Heredia’s bloop
RBI single to right field. Zun-
ino started the inning with a
double that was misplayed
by Angels left fielder Justin
SEAHAWKS: Return
of Ken Norton Jr has
linebackers feeling good
Continued from 1B
The Seattle Mariners have bolstered their bullpen by adding Sam Tuivailala from the
Cardinals, in exchange for minor-league pitcher Seth Elledge. Tuivailala is 3-3 with a
3.69 ERA in 31 appearances for St. Louis this season, his second full season.
AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill
Seattle Mariners’ Dee Gordon, left, is tagged by Los Angeles Angels catcher Jose
Briceno while trying to steal home during the 10th inning.
Upton.
The Angels’ three-run
second inning started on a
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him into sole possession of
24th place ahead of Houston
Astros great, Craig Biggio.
defensive line and the type
of chaos Michael Bennett
and others created on —
and sometimes off — the
field.
Then there was Wagner
and fellow linebacker K.J.
Wright. They have been
regarded as two of the best
in the league at their posi-
tions and sometimes have
received that level of rec-
ognition. But they were
often relegated to a sec-
ondary role on their own
team in terms of recog-
nition even with Wagner
being voted first-team All-
Pro three times and Wright
being a Pro Bowl selection.
“The attention has
gone elsewhere, I guess,”
Wright said. “Nothing will
change. We’ll still be the
bad-ass linebackers on this
team. We’ll still lead the
way. Stuff will still be run
in order. We’ll still make
plays and it’ll be fun out
there.”
Seattle’s
offseason
defensive overhaul saw
Bennett, Richard Sherman
and Sheldon Richardson
find new homes; Cliff Avril
and Kam Chancellor step
away from the game due
to neck injuries, and Earl
Thomas hold out in search
of a new contract. There
are changes everywhere
across Seattle’s defensive
alignment, with the excep-
tion of the linebackers.
Wagner has been calling
Seattle’s defense from the
moment he arrived in the
NFL and became a starter
as a rookie. His partner
the entire time has been
Wright. With the depar-
tures, those voices they’ve
used together for the past
six seasons will be even
louder.
“Yeah, they had the
name, they got a lot of
the attention and now the
attention may shift to the
linebackers,” Wagner said.
“But we pride ourselves
on being the guys that lead
this team and that has been
my mindset since I stepped
in. I had coach Norton
teach me the way.”
Ken Norton Jr. has
returned to Seattle to be
the defensive coordinator.
He was a mentor for Wag-
ner and Wright as the line-
backers coach when both
arrived in the NFL. Now
he’s returned with an even
bigger imprint on what
Seattle does defensively.
“He’s the linebackers
guy and he put that respon-
sibility more on us. He
calls on me in the meet-
ing room to answer most
of the questions, calls on
Bobby to answer the ques-
tions because he knows
that we’re all on the same
page,” Wright said. “He
knows that we’re the guys
that can share our lead-
ership abilities, share our
knowledge of the game.
He’s putting that on us.”
There may also be some
schematic tweaks that
give Wagner and Wright
more freedom defensively.
Wright said he believes
the adjustments will make
Seattle more fundamen-
tally sound defensively
and the linebackers could
be the benefactors.
“I think this defense is
hungry,” Wright said. “We
have a lot to prove. Myself,
the secondary with all the
guys leaving, the (defen-
sive) line with the guys
leaving. It’s going to be
fun because you’ve got
guys who want to come
and show who they are.”
————
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